What Language Arts Should a 8th Grader Know?
In 8th grade, students should be able to perform numerous language arts activities such as:
Vocabulary skills including identifying and determining the meaning of synonyms, antonyms, idioms, homophones and Latin and Greek roots.
Comprehension skills including summarizing, paraphrasing, or synthesizing information from two or more literary or expository texts.
Understanding main ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas and information, cause and effect, symbolism, making inferences, mood, tone, and point of view, in a story.
Applying their writing skills on activities such as composing their own cover letters, poems, biography, position papers, and more.
Identifying vocabulary words in a text and giving its meaning.
The ideal eighth grade language arts curriculum should ensure mastery of these concepts and skills as your student progresses eighth grade language arts.
Reading Goals/Objectives
The ideal language arts curriculum for eighth grade will improve your child’s reading comprehension by exposing them to more complicated stories, poems, vocabulary words, concepts and activities.
Reading goals and objectives for 8th graders should include:
Mastering complex reading passages
Offering an objective summary of more complicated texts
Comprehending and using figurative language
Using critical thinking skills to separate truth from error
Interpret text from different formats.
Eighth graders will be expected to create original works, including poems, autobiography/biography, cover letters, informational reports, short stories, and more. Writing goals and objectives for eighth grade include:
Using the writing process to take compositions from prewriting and planning through revision.
Developing a topic with simple facts, details, examples and explanations.
Using technology-aided tools such as graphic organizers to help them with prewriting and planning.
Relating a clear, coherent incident, event or situation by using well-chosen details through various writing activities.
Showing a command of English grammar during all writing activities.
Writing Goals/Objectives
Grammar Goals/Objectives
An eighth grade language arts curriculum should focus on combining grammar skills with writing skills. For example, when students are writing various assignments they will be expected to use proper grammar, such as maintaining consistent verb tense, throughout the writing process.
Additional grammar goals and objectives for eighth grade language arts include:
Maintaining subject-verb agreement
Using punctuation (comma, ellipsis, dash) to indicate a pause or break.
Using quotation marks correctly in dialogue
Correctly use capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Forming and using verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood.
Finding an eighth grade language arts curriculum that covers all the necessary concepts is essential. For instance, your child should be focused on boosting their writing, grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading skills during the year.
The following information will give you a better idea of what your child should be learning in 8th grade language arts as well as what IMEZ-Academy’s 8th grade curriculum offers you and your children for language arts.